Monday, August 31, 2009

Book Love


I just finished this book and I am sad, bc I wanted it to go on forever! Please run right to the bookstore or library and get "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"! It's so charming, heartfelt, fun and lovely.
Sadly the author, Mary Ann Shaffer, passed away before the book was published so we won't get another marvelous book from her. But her niece finished the book and I'm so glad she did. It's hands down my favorite book of the year!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Knitting Project Updates

The garage sale afforded me plenty of 'down time' to sew together some of my projects (always the part I hate the most and procrastinate on doing).

Here is my completed "Sunday Swing Sock" #1 in my hand-dyed yarn. It's a little darker and more colorful in 'real life'. I am pretty happy with my first dyeing effort, and plan to do it again soon.

Maddie's Monster Sweater is dunzo! It's sooo cute! As soon as it dries, I'll mail it over, Lis. And it should fit the little bean for a while. I'm starting a new project for Allie, since my first attempt is now headed to the garbage. I didn't realize I had TWO different white yarn dye lots, and the sleeves are totes 'whiter' than the body of the sweater. So that one is destined for the 'pile of doom'. But the new project I am starting is way cuter anyways!


Garage Sale!

Pia, Katie and I (with Steve's help) schlepped out a bunch o crap for a garage sale. And then it immediately rained. In our parched city where it hasn't rained all summer :-(

It eventually stopped and we got some customers. We can't retire our national debt with the profits, but I did manage to give away 8 tires so I'm happy.

The Tate-stashe


OMG love Tater's moustache and Fu Manchu! Her mama is so creative (thanks to this pattern). I can see I'm going to have to knit some of these for the boys.

Friday, August 28, 2009

My New "Worst Movie Ever"


It's now "Imagine That" with Eddie Murphy. Why, Eddie, why? The boys and I go to a summer film series, which has a 'special surprise movie' at the end; usually it's a good one that we've all wanted to see. We were hoping for Ice Age 3D, but we got this piece o crap instead. I can't even 'imagine' who this movie was made to entertain. The plot:
In Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies’ family comedy “Imagine That,” Eddie Murphy stars as a successful financial executive who has more time for his blackberry than his seven-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi). When he has a crisis of confidence and his career starts going down the drain, however, he finds the solution to all his problems in his daughter’s imaginary world.

"Bizarrely charmless and misconceived from start to finish, it represents yet another nail hammered into the coffin of Eddie Murphy's career. "
The kids weren't at all interested in Eddie's 'career crisis', and his daughter's imaginary world was sooo retarded (she put her blanket over her head and has conversations with her little friends with incredibly stupid names). We did enjoy the popcorn, however.
What's your worst movie ever?

Philosophy 101


Car conversation yesterday:
Liam: Laurie, does our life start all over again when we get to heaven?
Lavs: Um, no one really knows what happens when we get to heaven...
Liam: does the internet know?
Alex: If people don't know, then it's not on the internets!
Mikey: I want nummies, Wowe! (translation: Laurie, can you please stop at Mickey D's for a happy meal? That is my idea of heaven).

Afghan Squares Update


Here are both of my squares for P&J afghan. As you can see, I have a giantess and a dwarf square. Hope they even each other out in the putting together of the afghan!

My Dream Garage Sale...

No, not the sale Katie, Pia and I are doing this weekend at my house. One in Seattle over Labor Day Weekend:

Announcing:A Serious Stash EventSome of you may remember that my sister used to own a gift boutique and yarn store. When she shut down to focus on raising her baby, the yarn just stayed on the shelves. She is bringing all that yarn to Seattle and selling it well below cost- because it is just time for it to go.
Rowan, Jeager, Elsebeth Lavold, Debbie Bliss, Kraemer, Louisa Harding, Plymoth, lots of sock yarn. There are sweater quantities in most yarns, and project quantities in all yarns. There will also be needles, notions, patterns, bags- pretty much anything (other than books) that you might expect to find in a yarn store.
The Important InfoWhere: 13716 Midvale Ave. N. Unit B, Seattle, WAWhen: Labor Day weekend Frinday Sept 4th, Sat, Sept 5th and Monday Sept 7th(NOT SUNDAY)10:00 am- 5:00pm (or until we run out of yarn ;)

I may have to take a trip over for this :-)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Square for Pete & Jenna


Finished my squares for P&J's afghan. This one is HUGE, but it's cool looking. 2nd square is getting blocked, will post pic shortly.

Back to School!

District 81 is starting way early this year. Poor kids! Here are some 'first day' pix:

The goofy gang, a little excited about going back to school.

Twins, with the Dutch Boy hair. They are soooo blond!

Alex is carbo-loading with oatmeal topped with pie, the breakfast of champions!

RJ, who Jon says looks like a member of the Partridge Family with his long hair. Keith or Danny, which is it? (Jon says he is Reuben...)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

They Are Nine Today!


Hard to believe, but the twins are 9 years old today! Here's a picture of them at their 2nd birthday. I'll try to get a current picture to add to this later on today so you can see how big they are now. Liam wants a piano for his birthday, I think Alex would be happy with cold hard cash
:-) I was considering taking all four boys to the White Elephant and giving them each $20.00 to spend. Of course, that will take about 8 hours for them to decide what they want, so I need to devote an entire day to it...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I Can Dream, Can't I?


I'm not much of a cook anymore (was I ever?) but I am in love with this cookbook! "Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It" by Karen Solomon has the most amazing recipes for stuff and makes it seem easy: marshmallows, butter, cheese, limoncello, crackers and lots more. I'm dreaming about making my own mustard, booze, pickled beans...

Saturday, August 22, 2009

I Need Help!


I need Mr. Wizard riding shotgun when I travel with the boys. They ask me the hardest questions! Here is a sampling of recent queries from our young scientists:
1. How small are baby quails?
2. Do crawdads come from eggs?
3. How do you make electricity?
4. How does a car work?
5. What kind of [tree, bird, plant, rock] is that?
6. How far is outer space from here?
My stock answer is usually a) gee, we'll have to look that up on the internet or b) How do YOU think it works, what it is, how it grows, etc. Liam is the hardest questioner, he has unending curiousity about the world. Guess I need to keep my Blackberry on Wikipedia!

Email Addy...

this is my 'sure fire never gets shut off bc I haven't paid my monthly bill' e-mail address:

lavs@live.com

I'd recommend this one for contacting me!

Blackberry Picking, The Pleasures and Perils

Steve, Mom and I went blackberry picking in the little park by Mimi's house (at my insistence). Here's a photo album of our adventure:
Mimi picking away, sensibly wearing long sleeves and remaining on the perimeter of the patch.
Lavs, on the other hand, barged into the patch in shorts, flip flops and short sleeved shirt. And failed to notice the poison ivy in the blackberry patch. Result: two arms full of poison ivy welts.


However, a bowl of berries was picked and brought back to Spokane, where ---



I finally got to use my adorable tart molds from Williams-S0noma. The twins helped me, and they were delish! Our first effort didn't exactly look as fancy as the W-S package promised, but they went in the tummy just as easy even if they weren't super purty.

It's Back!

Project Runway, that is! And about time too! I think this season looks pretty good, not sure who I'm rooting for yet. I am partial to Louise, who likes vintage fashion, and Epperson, bc he is almost as old as me. And has grown up kids.

Week 31-32 Results


Didn't make it to WW last week. And results this week? Up .2 lbs. I hang my head in shame.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Just Had to Cast on Some Socks


To see what my pretty new hand-dyed yarn looks like! And I LIKE IT. The pictures don't do it justice, it's very pretty, and much brighter than it looks here. And it's actually not that far away from the Venice yarn I imagined :-)

Eatin' From the Pea Patch!


Yay! We have a zucchini, a yellow squash and a tomato! I sliced these up last night, tossed the tomato in a vinegar dressing, made The World's Best Zuke Recipe with eggs contributed by Frida and Olive! Yum!!!
In case you don't know The World's Best Zuke Recipe, here it is:
1. thinly slice your zuke (1 not too big zucchini is plenty for 2 people).
2. heat up some olive oil in frying pan; throw in the zuke along with a couple of cloves of chopped up garlic. Saute until zuke is kind of limp.
3. Add eggs (I use 2 eggs per person), salt and pepper (to taste, it usually takes more than I think it will), and grated parmesan cheese. Stir until the eggs are scrambled.
4. Serve with a nice baguette.
This is a fabulous summer lunch or dinner!

An Afternoon of Dyeing

Here are some pictures of my sock yarn dyeing adventure:


Step One: Set out dyeing materials and get ready. Everything is pristine and white. Feel as if am in a laboratory.

Step Two: Don mask and gloves. Immediately start to hyperventilate. Must keep mask on or directions warn of dire effects of acid dyes. Start to question sanity of dyeing on hottest day of year.

Step Three: about 5 minutes into project; nothing pristine OR white any longer. Start to worry about dye stains on library book am using. Wonder if library will notice.

Step Four: Yarn goes in the dye pot! Immediately realize that directions are for dyeing ONE POUND of yarn. Actually dyeing FOUR OUNCES of yarn. Wonder if this will make a difference.

Step Five: Two days later, have lovely skein on yarn on swift! Colors are not exactly as envisioned but not total fug either.



Step Six: Admire pretty ball of sock yarn. Toss in cubby with all other yarn waiting to be knit. Blog about experience, then have cold glass of wine.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Heading over the Pass


Steve & I are taking a wee road trip to Seattle on Friday. Family, hope you all are around this weekend!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Dyeing to Dye!






Call me crazy, but I'm spending the afternoon dyeing sock yarn! I've been 'dyeing' to try this for a while and today seemed like a good day. I have a little dye kit I got from Hello Yarn and some undyed sock yarn. I have an old canning kettle I picked up from a thrift store. I have no one around to interrupt me. So here goes!



Of course I have grand plans to create a beautiful hand dyed yarn that will be the colors of Venice:



But since I really don't know how to mix these colors, I'm pretty sure my sock yarn is not going to look ANYthing like Venice...

Pictures of the process to follow soon! Now to don my respirator and latex gloves and go forth and dye!

Quote of The Day

"I was thrown out of NYU my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me."

Alvy Singer in Annie Hall

OK, it tickled me at 5 am.

Monday, August 10, 2009

What a Crew!


Stole this from Facebook, I've never seen this picture before but I LOVE IT!
Front row: Kirdy, baby Tony, Peter and Tony F.
Back Row: Cara, Dominic and Katie.
These guys are all grown up now, but I sure remember them all at this age.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Remember This?


Girls my age will surely remember getting this booklet called "Growing Up and Liking It" at the yearly top-secret menstruation talk. Only the girls (and their moms) were allowed to attend, and I recall the cafeteria windows being covered with rolls of butcher paper so that no boys could peek in. LOL, how ridonkulous!
I found a pristine 1962 edition of this fab little book while I was estate saling yesterday and I HAD to have it. It's full of great tips like 'no violent exercise', be sure to 'change out of wet duds when you get caught in the rain', take it easy when dancing and more.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Happy Birthday, Cara Mia!


Today's Cara's birthday, and I hope she is enjoying her 'tourist' visit to DC! I haven't gotten to celebrate her BD with her in a few years; who is cooking your fave sloppy joes and niblets birthday dinner for you, doll?


Love you x a million!!!


Here's a school picture of our Car-parts from about 3rd grade. Note the Girl Scout blouse she's wearing, not sure why as I think she pretty much despised Girl Scouts. Especially when I made her go out and sell enough boxes of GS cookies to earn a free trip to summer camp :-)

Go See This Movie!


Because "Julie & Julia" is terrific! Meryl, of course, is perfection as Julia, she absolutely nails it. Stanley Tucci as her husband Paul Childs? Um, perfect. The movie really comes alive when these two are on screen, if they don't win Oscars, the apocolypse is truly upon us.

Week 30 Results


I lost .2 lbs. Nothing more to report, at least it was a loss.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Camp Reed Recap

I took this video a couple of weeks ago when I picked up the guys from Camp Reed. They had a grand time, and everyone wants to go back next year. Maybe by then I'll be a bit better at videos (but don't count on it).

The Bike Riding Lesson

Steve taught the brothers how to ride their bikes and we are hoping he can work his magic with Mikey, who insisted on having his training wheels removed now that he is a big 4 year old. Here's a look at Moochie's first bike riding lesson (I HEART his baseball helmet used as a bike helmet since his real helmet is broken).

Fortunately, Mom packed his training wheels for the trip to Lopez. I think he's gonna need them for a little while longer...

Thursday, August 6, 2009

You Say It's Your Birthday...

It's My Birthday Too Yeah! And in honor of BD #55, here are some pix from high school:

This may be the last existent shot of the ill-fated Senior Float of 1972. It's made entirely out of paper flowers and for some bizarre reasons the officials allowed us to have a TORCH on the float. Live Fire + Strong Wind + Paper = Entire Float in Flames going down Main Street. BTW, that baby in the backpack is Pam! Other kid is Warren Rinehart's niece.





Here I am enjoying the pool, not sure why the 'arty' angle of this picture. Cuz I didn't have any arty friends, I guess maybe they were just bad photographers. BTW I thought I was fat in High School. I'd kill to be this 'fat' again.




And here I am blowing out the candles on my 18th birthday. Not a gray hair or wrinkle in sight! It's hard to believe I was this young once upon a time, but here's the evidence.


Katie and I are going to dinner and the movies to celebrate. I can't wait to see "Julie & Julia"! I heart Meryl Streep, and I loved this book. It ALMOST made me want to cook something (almost)













Wednesday, August 5, 2009

And A Great Silence Descends...


Lorraine and Jon just picked up the guys, and they are off for 10 days on beautiful Lopez Island in the San Juans! Lo's folks are meeting them there, so it should be a wonderful vacation for the gang. Lorraine bought a little boat and Jon loaded up on fishing stuff at Cabela's, and I heard all about crab pots, shrimp pots and salmon. Hoping I get to enjoy some of the seafood when they get home!
I now have 10 days off, too! It's way too quiet here. I am hoping I can scrounge up gas money to head to Seattle for a few days...will let you know as soon as I finish checking under the couch cushions :-)

Fun Afternoon at Manito Park

We headed over to Manito Park yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours of hot fun :-)

Alex and Liam love hunting for turtles in the duck pond. Right after this picture was taken, we found out why they are called 'snapping turtles' when this rascal bit Al on the arm.

Here's Mikey lookin' all trailer trashy in really fug cotton shorts and his Transformer flip-flops. Also, his face and tummy are covered with Tweety Bird ice cream bar remains. He's still cute tho!


And RJ is now Mr. Hippie with his long hair. Plus green mouth from his popsicle.


Tuesday, August 4, 2009

More Car Convo

In the car this morning:

Alex: Laurie, want to hear a song I learned at camp?
Lavs: Sure.

Al: "What Do You Do, When You have to take a Poo, In an English Country Gah-den? Pull Down your Pants, and Fertilize the Plants, in an English Country Gah-den! Chorus: Toilet Paper, Toilet Paper, TOILET PAPER".

Lavs: I don't think that is an official Camp Song?

Everyone: Sings song at top of lungs X infinity times.

More Shark Week Love

Sunday, August 2, 2009

It's Here!


Shark Week on The Discovery Channel! Who doesn't love a whole week of people getting bitten by sharks!?

Casting On More New Projects


I must be bored or something :-) I am almost done with the Monster sweater, just blocking the sleeves and then sewing it together. Wanted to start a cute little cardi for new baby Allie, but can't find any size 4 needles (how can that BE? I own a bazillion needles) so that one's on the back burner. I could finish the Duck Soup Cardigan I started for her, but nah I don't want to. And my 'Sure to Be A Fair Prize Winner' Stole/Shawl is waiting for the arrival of a teeny weeny crochet hook so I can start beading/knitting. I also don't feel like starting sock #2 of my 'mystery sock', too much color knitting for such hot weather.
So, I'm casting on the Vilai socks from "Sock Innovation". I'm using a dark purple yarn, which may cause blindness by the time I'm finished as it's a little bit hard to see the stitches. But it's pretty!